For me Letaba = Mourning Doves! When we were at Satara in September we heard them there for the first time as well. Not in the campsite though, in the circle of bugalows in the lefthand corner and furthest from the gate as you enter.

Ian Sinclair describes the sound as "A soft, dove-like 'cooooc-curr'. What makes this sound memorable is the impression it leaves you with - the dove is not called "mourning dove" without reason. It has large red circles round the eyes like someone who's been crying and the sound is very sad. Interesting - Ian Sinclair mentions Satara in his Field Guide as the place to look for them.

I alway wonderd what dove made that Kur-r-r-r-r-r-r-rrr sound. (well before buying a birdbook and a video with the sounds of the KNP birds)And now back home I found an old tape with birdsounds on it (and their name). Just intresting to listen to tham and try to imitate tham. Can imitate the cape tortle dove, emerald spotted wooddove, the kur-r-r-r-rr of the mourningdove already. Some more birds, but I like the mourning dove's kurrrrr.
(i also like to imitate the ostrich, black-collard barbet, ground hornbill and burchals coucal) {yes I know this sound a bit wyrd, but thats me )

grtz jaapvd.

Watching the slow flow of the river. A continues movement of water down towards the ocean. Like blood flowing through a vein, keeping the body alive.

Although the Mourning dove has a lovely soothing call, I still think the emerald spotted dove has an instant game reserve ring to it and you either know you are there or you wish you were when you hear it.

The Mourning Dove has a strangely restricted range in Kruger. It is common in camps like Shingwedzi, Letaba and Satara, and less so at Tshokwane and Lower Sabie. It is also found at a handful of other spots, but although these locations are spread over the length of the park, it is rarely seen and seemingly absent from the territory in between.

There seems to be a recent colonisation of some sites in the far south of the park, even in private locations south of the Crocodile River. Have readers noticed Mourning Doves moving south? Where are these other locations?